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The Seven Serpents (book)
:For other uses of '''The Seven Serpents', see'' The Seven Serpents (disambiguation) The Seven Serpents is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by John Blanche, originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books, and is the third book in the Sorcery! epic. Upon completion of Kharé - Cityport of Traps, the player finds themselves standing at the beginning of the Baklands, a bleak and empty wasteland which must be crossed in order to reach Mampang Fortress. While travelling the player must locate the titular Seven Serpents, messengers of the Archmage travelling to Mampang to warn him of the player's presence. The degree of success achieved by the player in this will have a direct impact upon the challenges faced in the final book. This is the most linear entry in the series and the most challenging so far, as the player must kill all the seven serpents. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It was unnumbered in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031809-7), but is 13th in the modern Wizard "Series 1" (ISBN 1-84-046435-6). Creation Background Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *The introductory rules offer the reader a choice of a "simple" (where no magic is used and fights are run according to standard Fighting Fantasy combat) or an "advanced" game (which relies heavily on magic). *The player has a series of magic spells that can be used, each costing between 1 and 4 stamina points. *The player may also call upon the help of Libra, the goddess of Justice, once in the adventure (she may not be called upon again till the events of The Crown of Kings). In calling on her the player may ask for "Revitalization" (restoration of skill, stamina, or luck points to their Initial level; "Escape" which allows you (when the text offers it) to escape a situation; or "Removal of Curses and Diseases" which can take place at any time and removal all curses or diseases that the player labours under at the time. Equipment List The list below is what the player begins with if they start this book having not played Kharé - Cityport of Traps, otherwise they begin the adventure with what they had left over from the end of that book: *Sword *Backpack *20 Gold Pieces *2 Provisions Covers and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by John Blanche. When the book was republished by Wizard the cover was re-worked by Mel Grant. #Price of 1st Impression (Puffin printing and incorporating The Sorcery Spell Book) #Price of 11th Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by John Blanche. Intertextual References Other Media d20 System Conversion There is a D20 System conversion by Myriador called Sorcery 3: The Seven Serpents. Main Characters Locations Encounters *Deathwraith *Earth Serpent - one of The Seven Serpents *Ferryman *Fire Serpent - one of The Seven Serpents *Golden Snake *Horsemen *Moon Serpent - one of The Seven Serpents *Serpent of Time - one of The Seven Serpents *Stranglebush *Water Serpent - one of The Seven Serpents Further Notes *The Sorcery! series originally began publication under the main Penguin Books brand rather than the Puffin imprint. This was the first to first be published by Puffin Books. In the it was therefore never published by Penguin. However, in the the book was published by Penguin, with the same cover illustration (the only main difference being that the Adventure Gamebooks banner was not used in the US, being a Puffin brand. Instead Penguin continued with the Coloured Number format in the US for the Sorcery! series, with this book having the number 3 in a blue triangle in the top right hand corner. Errors *What colour is the snake that turns into the Serpent of Fire? It is red, as at (117), or yellow, as at (148)? *It is not possible to arrive at (393) without having defeated at least two Serpents (Air and Time). *The player can obtain a small vial of gas from Dintainta to aid against the Sleepless Ram. Upon reaching Mampang, the "gas" has become a small vial of "liquid". Dedication To Margery, Harry ... their own special creation! See Also *''Fighting Fantasy'' Reviews *[http://user.tninet.se/~wcw454p/docs/sor3.txt The Seven Serpents at FF Reviews Archive] External Links *Character Sheet *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?name=Fighting+Fantasy+Reissues Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series) at Gamebooks.org] References Category:1984 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series Category:Sorcery 3 Entries Category:Sorcery Entries Category:Sorcery Series